Skype: Free is Good
I finally did it – after messing with calling cards etc to call a buddy down in the Caribbean, I signed up with Skype.
Skype is the peer-to-peer internet calling service that is the biggest factor to knock down the barriers of time and distance since email. If you own stock in a telephone company that is not moving into cable and high-speed internet, now is the time to sell because that stock is about to follow GM right into the toilet.
Skype is the world’s leading internet telephony company out of the tiny European country of Luxembourg. They were recently acquired by eBay for an astounding US$4,000,000,000-plus. For a country ranked 97th with a GDP of under $30billion, this is very impressive. It also makes for two very rich dudes.
If you’ve not heard of Skype before, think KaZaA, a Napster follow-on which has turned the music sharing technology into real-time internet telephony.
Skype started with a beta product back in 2003 – less than 3 years ago! – and has rocketed to millions of users in no time at all. In fact, they sign up 170,000 new users per day. Today, one of them was me – and it’s easy to see what all the fuss is about.
Skype used to charge a membership fee to get started, but not anymore. Now anyone can download Skype for free and start talking to any of the millions of Skype users worldwide right away – effectively turning their PC into a global telephone device. And its all for free.
<< download Skype soon, but keep reading for now >>
So what can the Skype story teach us?
People still like free stuff,
but more importantly…
People don’t mind change if it adds value
Skype is turning the telephone industry on its head. And, from my perspective, I think that there are software and service companies in our sector that can turn the markets we serve on its head.
One more observation: I doubt that Skype could have done what it did as a public company from the start.
Which tells me that real innovations that turn industries on their heads have a better chance coming from a privately-held firm with a penchant for creativity and invention. (As opposed to just focusing monthly/quarterly numbers at the expense of doing what’s right – we all know companies like that, right?)
I like the fact that PAS meets the basic requirements…
I also know we have the talent and ability to turn our industry on its head – not just by giving software or services away for free but by introducing the kind of products that change the industry by solving new problems, breaking down old barriers and bringing many times more value than their price.
I’m all for that… and I think I know where to look too!
In the meantime, y’all ought to get downloading Skype and move out of the Stone Age.
Skype me anytime at rolandheersink – don’t worry about not knowing what that means – you’ll have that figured out within minutes of getting started…
Ciao!
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